Eating RATS in Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Now that the small talk is out of the way, let us get to the very important matter of what’s on the menu, shall we? Monkey brains are a little crass, the Mekong was difficult to fish in, couldn’t even catch a bass, rats. On the topic of RATS let us discuss the very important matter of picking, preparing and well, eating rats for dinner.

The video below is VERY graphic in nature, you have been warned…

Lots of taboo associated with eating rats, why? Many parts of the world do not have the luxury of just showing up at some massive big box grocery store and picking finely procured meat products. Yet many sit back and look down at eating common vermin, we here at SHABL believe the key to understanding is experiences. Considering we had had King Cobra the night before and nobody wanted the duck heads, we thought it only made sense to move a little down the food chain…

Supposedly rats taste like chicken and many prefer it to chicken, believe it or not.. Also the rats one can procure at local markets in the Mekong Delta are field rats, or let us just say “organic rats”. There is a difference, if you know, please let me know.

Personally, not a fan of rat and most likely won’t eat it again unless it’s served to me at a formal black-tie dinner party, you know, tuxedo and top hat affair of such. Think that’s crazy? In Sapa I met some gents at the coffee shop and went back to dinner that one of the gents wives had been preparing. We had shaved pig ear salad to start and pig intestines for the main course followed by a bottle of Jim Bean.

When one is invited to such affairs it would be rude and uncalled for not to partake, also in case you have been living under a rock, we here at SHABL (myself and whomever I’m with) are down for anything, anytime, anywhere. Life is a lot more fun that way, you should try it sometime if haven’t already.

Suffice to say my favorite part of the rat was it’s inners, lungs, heart, all that jazz. Kinda like “extreme pate” We’d have more footage of us eating it and our favorite pajama wearing chef cooking them had we not ran into an old school hippy and, well, gotten distracted. The chef threw them on the BBQ, I’d rather some type of seasoning…

The rats cost us 200,000vdn a kilo or $10US. Still think that was a steep price but it was cheaper than cobra and more expensive then goose heads and none of us wanted monkey brains. Above is my favorite pajama wearing chef. Not only is he down for cooking ANYTHING, he’s always down for a laugh and of course, a cigarette, miss that guy!

I met the gentlemen who joined me for this dinner party in Saigon. After meeting “Mr. X” I ran into one of the gents who was on the same bus as myself while enjoying beers on a street corner. He was with the two other fellows. I mentioned the private Mekong Delta Tour and they were in. Great group for such a trip, remember that when you travel alone, mini-crews form all the time, don’t wait for someone else to come, just go.

Above will give you an idea of what else is coming up on the menu this week here at SHABL. Before I go on, if you liked this be sure to check out eating snake heart in Vietnam on the youtube channel. Naturally it was all prepared by our personal chef. Once you have a private cigarette smoking, pajama wearing chef, the rest, seem quite vanilla and incredibly boring, I dare say. This is also where my crippling sugar cane addiction began, thanks guys!

Tip of the hat,

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P.P.S: If someone suggests you attend a Long Island Ice Tea breakfast party, I suggest you decline.